Demographics of Guyana

This is a demography of Guyana including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Guyana's population is made up of five main ethnic groups: Indians, Africans, Amerindians, Europeans, and Chinese. Ninety percent of the inhabitants live on the narrow coastal plain, where population density is more than. The population density for Guyana as a whole is low: less than.
Guyana continues to be influenced by British and Indian culture as well as the cultures of the United States, Europe, Africa, the Islamic world, East and South Asian countries, and Latin America, especially the neighbouring countries of Venezuela and Brazil. It is one of two countries and three territories to form the Guianas, along with Suriname, the overseas territory of French Guiana, the Venezuelan region of Guayana, and Amapá in Brazil.

Population

According to, the total population was in. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 33.6%, 62.1% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 4.3% was 65 years or older.

Structure of the population

Age group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	371 805	375 150	746 955	100
0–4	35 876	34 564	70 440	9.43
5–9	35 954	35 314	71 268	9.54
10–14	42 302	40 837	83 139	11.13
15–19	42 749	42 049	84 798	11.35
20–24	31 350	31 932	63 282	8.47
25–29	25 487	26 574	52 061	6.97
30–34	26 103	26 996	53 099	7.11
35–39	25 457	26 022	51 479	6.89
40–44	24 212	23 743	47 955	6.42
45–49	21 573	21 542	43 115	5.77
50–54	18 878	18 566	37 444	5.01
55–59	14 045	14 998	29 043	3.89
60–64	10 479	11 034	21 513	2.88
65-69	6 638	7 197	13 835	1.85
70-74	4 817	5 522	10 339	1.38
75-79	3 037	3 871	6 908	0.92
80-84	1 714	2 365	4 079	0.55
85+	1 134	2 024	3 158	0.42
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0–14	114 132	110 715	224 847	30.10
15–64	240 333	243 456	483 789	64.77
65+	17 340	20 979	38 319	5.13

Age structure

0–14 years:
35.6%

15–64 years:
60.2%

65 years and over:
4.2%

Vital statistics

UN estimates

The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates of vital statistics of Guyana.

Registered births and deaths

	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Natural change	Total fertility rate	Infant mortality rate
1948		16 576	5 437	11 139
1949		17 137	5 264	11 873
1950		16 985	5 938	11 047
1951		18 357	5 637	12 720
1952		19 555	5 772	13 783
1953		20 148	5 876	14 272
1954		20 263	5 635	14 628
1955		21 073	5 557	15 516
1956		21 668	5 380	16 288
1957		22 983	5 726	17 257
1958		23 661	5 195	18 466
1959		24 467	5 313	19 154
1960		23 718	5 167	18 551
1961		24 323	5 069	19 254
1962		25 316	4 664	20 652
1963		25 796	4 573	21 223
1964		25 541	4 748	20 793
1965		25 830	4 705	21 125
1966		26 348	5 234	21 114
1967		23 335	5 388	17 947
1968		23 467	5 619	17 848
1969		22 129
1970		23 703	4 808	18 895
1971		22 933	5 248	17 685
1972		25 065	5 962	19 103
1973		24 100	5 599	18 501
1974		23 100	6 161	16 939
1975		23 200	5 924	17 276
1976		24 200	6 251	16 949
1977			5 883
1978		23 200	6 000	17 200
1984			4 781
1992	712 415
1993	734 854		4 514			6.1
1994	745 994		4 304			5.8
1995	760 379
1996	770 139
1997	775 137		5 117			6.6
1998	773 432		4 977			6.4
1999	770 584		4 197			5.4
2000	756 395
2001	753 862		4 629			6.1
2002	751 647		5 003			6.7
2003	749 739		4 986			6.7
2004	748 144		5 141			6.9
2005	746 865	14 860	5 230	9 630	19.9	7.0	12.9		22.0
2006	745 898	14 830	5 020	9 810	19.9	6.7	13.2		19.2
2007	745 246	14 500	5 040	9 460	19.5	6.8	12.7		20.3
2008	774 443	15 240	4 980	10 260	19.7	6.4	13.2		17.5
2009	753 227	14 461	5 270	9 191	19.2	7.0	12.2		10.8
2010	752 113	14 290	5 260	9 030	19.0	7.0	12.0		14.7
2011	750 663	14 110	5 180	8 930	18.8	6.9	11.9		14.4
2012	746 724	13 780	5 160	8 620	18.5	6.9	11.5		13.8
2013	749 289	13 820	4 930	8 890	18.4	6.6	11.9	2.6	12.9
2014	751 975	14 800	5 460	9 340	19.7	7.3	12.4		23.3
2015	754 803	13 060	5 050	8 010	17.3	6.7	10.6		21.8
2016	757 759		5 109			6.7
2017	760 807	13 608	4 909	8 699	17.9	6.5	11.4
2018	763 899	14 659	4 558	10 101	19.2	6.0	13.2
2019	766 986		5 560			7.2
2020	770 026		3 503			4.5
2021	772 975		7 154			9.3
2022	896,094		6 818
2023	918,083		5 942
2024	956,044

Demographic and Health Surveys

Total Fertility Rate and Crude Birth Rate :

Ethnic groups

The present population of Guyana is racially and ethnically heterogeneous, with ethnic groups originating from India, Africa, Europe, and China, as well as indigenous or aboriginal peoples.
The largest ethnic group are the Indo-Guyanese, the descendants of indentured labourers from India, who make up 39.8% of the population, according to the 2012 census. They are followed by the Afro-Guyanese, the descendants of enslaved labourers from Africa, who constitute 29.3. Guyanese of mixed heritage make up 19.9%.
Indigenous peoples, known locally as Amerindians, make up 10.5%. The indigenous groups include the Arawaks, the Wai Wai, the Caribs, the Akawaio, the Arecuna, the Patamona, the Wapixana, the Macushi, and the Warao. The two largest groups, the Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese, have experienced some racial tension.
Most Indo-Guyanese are descended from indentured labourers who migrated from North India, especially the Bhojpur and Awadh regions of the Hindi Belt in the present day states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. A significant minority of Indo-Guyanese are also descended from indentured migrants who came from the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Among the immigrants there were many labourers from other parts of South Asia such as Nepal, Bengal, Chota Nagpur, and Northwestern India - the modern states of Punjab, Haryana - which was at the time a part of the state of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The distribution pattern in the 2002 census was similar to those of the 1980 and 1991 censuses, but the share of the two main groups has declined. Indo-Guyanese made up 51.9% of the total population in 1980, but by 1991 this had fallen to 48.6%, and then to 43.5% in the 2002 census. Those of African descent increased slightly from 30.8% to 32.3% during the first period before falling to 30.2% in the 2002 census. With small growth in the overall population, the decline in the shares of the two larger groups has resulted in the relative increase of shares of the multiracial and Amerindian groups.
The Amerindian population rose by 22,097 people between 1991 and 2002. This represents an increase of 47.3% or annual growth of 3.5%. Similarly, the multiracial population increased by 37,788 persons, representing a 43.0% increase or annual growth rate of 3.2% from the base period of 1991 census.
The number of Chinese is about 0.2% and the White population is about 0.3%.

Language

English is the official language of Guyana, which is the only South American country with English as the official language.
Guyanese Creole is widely spoken in Guyana.
A number of Amerindian languages are also spoken by a minority of the population. These include Cariban languages such as Macushi, Akawaio and Wai-Wai, and Arawakan languages such as Arawak and Wapishana.
Other languages include Chinese spoken by some members of the Chinese community, Portuguese spoken by some Portuguese Guyanese, Dutch spoken by Surinamese in Guyana, and Guyanese Hindustani and Tamil spoken by a few older members of the Indian Guyanese community, as well as Sarnami Hindustani spoken by Indians from Suriname.

Second and third languages

Portuguese is increasingly widely used as a second language in Guyana, particularly in the south of the country near the Brazil border. Dutch and French are spoken by those who frequently visit neighbouring Suriname and French Guiana respectively. French is widely taught in secondary schools along with Spanish as foreign languages. Spanish is also used by a minority of the population as a second language. Spanish is spoken typically by visitors and residents from Venezuela.

Religion

The religious breakdown of Guyanese people is: Hindu 28.4%, Pentecostal 16.9%, Roman Catholic 8.1%, Muslim 7.2%, Anglican 6.9%, Seventh-day Adventist 5%, other Christian denominations 20.5%, no religion 4.3%, Rastafarian 0.5%, Bahá’í 0.1%, other faiths 2.2%.